About Mark Woolhouse

Former banker turned entrepreneur. I successfully restructured, purchased, managed and sold a private engineering group, Steel Line Ltd, through an LBO and was also an equity partner in Corporate Training Group which my partners and I successfully sold to the AIM listed ILX group in 2006. I established Capital City Training Limited in early 2010 with my business partner Greg. We acquired MS Consultants a few years ago (so I'm still doing a bit of M&A). I have had non-exec roles for a small and growing VA/recruitment business and a fast-growing beverage logistics company. I am also an active investor. Capital City Training is a full service technical and management development training company focused on the banking, wealth management and broader financial services and accounting industries. Having said all that, in the last couple of years we've been branching out into training for non-financial companies - manufacturing, retail, tech, defense.. so old and new economy. We also provide consultancy around modelling and are currently working for a leading PPP/PFI advisory firm. We have delivered training in every continent of the world in 2024... except Antarctica. Perhaps in 2025?! Watch this space. Capital’s dedicated faculty combine extensive line experience as corporate financiers, bankers, traders, portfolio managers and equity analysts together with over 60 years of experience in learning and development as both procurers and providers of tailored in-house training, eLearning and blended learning. Our faculty also includes experienced Management development training specialists allowing us to provide HR consultancy services, management development training and also innovative integrated management development & technical training events. Capital City’s faculty embody over 100 years of line experience across the fields of accounting, corporate finance, derivatives, credit, lending, investment, equity research transaction banking and origination.

Dividend Coverage Ratio (DCR): Definitions, Formulas, and Examples

Dividend Coverage Ratio (DCR) Explained: Definitions, Formulas, and Examples Dividend coverage is an important risk metric for equity analysts and investors, spotlighting a company's ability to pay dividends to its shareholders. The dividend coverage ratio (DCR) serves as a crucial metric to gauge how secure a dividend payment. This article calculates the dividend

By |2024-02-12T17:17:21+00:00October 23rd, 2023|Investing|Comments Off on Dividend Coverage Ratio (DCR): Definitions, Formulas, and Examples

Basis Points (BPS) Explained: Definitions and Examples

Basis points (BPS) is the common term for 1/100th of 1 percent or 0.01%.  This unit might not seem worth naming, but in bond markets for example, this is the unit for measuring daily price movements and credit spreads – i.e. the interest rate premium charged to a company because it is a weaker credit

By |2023-12-05T13:41:42+00:00October 23rd, 2023|Investing, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Basis Points (BPS) Explained: Definitions and Examples

Equity Risk Premium (ERP): Definitions, Formulas and Examples

The equity risk premium (ERP) is a crucial concept in corporate finance and investment analysis. It signifies the additional return that investors demand to invest in stocks versus risk-free assets like government bonds. Understanding the equity risk premium is vital for estimating the cost of equity and determining if an investment opportunity is worthwhile.  

By |2023-10-23T16:57:15+00:00October 23rd, 2023|Valuation|Comments Off on Equity Risk Premium (ERP): Definitions, Formulas and Examples

What is Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)?

What is Compound Annual Growth Rate?  Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful metric for presenting a variable growth trend by its implied weighted-average compound growth rate over a period of time: It smooths out volatility in growth and accounts for the compounding effect from year to year.   CAGR represents the constant

By |2024-01-03T18:58:54+00:00October 9th, 2023|Financial Modeling|Comments Off on What is Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)?

Variable Costs Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples

Variable costs represent a critical component of financial analysis and business decision making. By understanding how to calculate and analyse variable costs, companies can properly budget, price products and services competitively, and comprehend their cost structure. What is a Variable Cost? A Variable Cost is a corporate expense that changes in proportion with activity -

By |2023-10-19T09:44:49+00:00October 9th, 2023|Accounting|Comments Off on Variable Costs Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples

Sharpe Ratio Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples

Sharpe Ratio Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples The Sharpe Ratio is one of the most popular risk-adjusted return metrics used in investment analysis and corporate finance. It was developed by Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe and helps investors understand the return of an investment compared to its risk. The ratio is useful for

By |2024-04-05T16:16:35+00:00October 9th, 2023|Investing|Comments Off on Sharpe Ratio Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples

Year-over-Year (YOY): Definitions, Formulas, and Examples

Year-over-Year (YOY): Definitions, Formulas, and Examples Understanding year-over-year (YOY) growth is a fundamental skill for graduates entering corporate finance roles. Comparing period-over-period performance provides insight into the financial health and trajectory of a business. Article Contents What is Year-Over-Year Growth? Formula for Calculating YOY Growth Calculating YOY Growth in

By |2024-04-05T14:53:34+00:00October 6th, 2023|Financial Modeling|Comments Off on Year-over-Year (YOY): Definitions, Formulas, and Examples

Accounting for derivatives: a huge problem for investors

Over many years, as an aside to teaching about convertibles as a product, I’ve had to explain the basis for accounting for them.  The accounting has always seemed pretty harmless to me until I recently made a case study out of the  online luxury fashion retail platform, Far Fetch (LON:OK60)(NYSE:FTCH).

By |2023-10-05T16:56:43+00:00December 16th, 2022|Risk Management & Derivatives|Comments Off on Accounting for derivatives: a huge problem for investors

Reading List

It’s a while since we last gave any book recommendations, https://www.capitalcitytraining.com/news/my-reading-list/ so here is a new list of some of the interesting books the team’s been reading, they aren’t all textbooks, but all are really interesting reads that have something to teach us about investing and the financial world we are in: “Thrillers” Freezing

By |2023-10-05T16:56:37+00:00October 17th, 2022|News|Comments Off on Reading List

Leveraged buyouts (or “LBOs”) explained

One of our tech team was reviewing and testing our website and pointed out that whilst we were selling LBO modelling, we didn’t actually explain what an LBO was! So here goes. We need to start off with the private equity industry which really began in the 1980s – or rather that’s when one

By |2023-10-05T17:12:00+00:00August 9th, 2022|Mergers & Acquisitions|Comments Off on Leveraged buyouts (or “LBOs”) explained
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